Future Trends in Architectural Management, International Symposium CIB-W096 2009 Taiwan

November 02-04, 2009,Tainan Taiwan

Feng Shui: A Chinese approach to integrated design

Michael Y. Mak 1
S. Thomas Ng 2

ABSTRACT

Feng Shui is a body of ancient Chinese knowledge that aims at creating a harmony between
environment, buildings and people. It has influenced most traditional building design in
China for thousands of years. With a desire to improve the relationship between human and
the environment, there is an increasing interest for architects and other building professionals
to apply the concepts of Feng Shui in building design and the built environment. However, the
development of Feng Shui principles and practices are complicated and there is little research
into the application of Feng Shui knowledge to the built environment and architectural design.
It is suggested that interpreting Feng Shui knowledge would enable the development of a
design tool from this Chinese architectural discipline. In particular, the Form School of the
Feng Shui knowledge provided a holistic approach that allows integrated components and
elements to be considered for the built environment. This paper investigates the principles and
practice of Feng Shui and its knowledge structure to provide a broad understanding of the
Feng Shui knowledge. A hierarchical structure of Feng Shui knowledge is presented which
would form a useful basis for integrated design.

KEYWORDS

Feng Shui, Chinese approach, Form School, integrated design

1. Lecturer, School of Architecture and Built Environment, University of Newcastle, Australia.

Michael.Mak@newcastle.edu.au
2. Associate Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong. tstng@hkucc.hku.hk

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1. INTRODUCTION

Building design is complex. A building is viewed as an interdependent system, as opposed to

an aggregation of its separate components (site, structure, and services). Integrated design is a
collaborative method for designing buildings which emphasizes the development of a holistic
design. The goal of looking at all the systems together is to make sure they work in harmony
rather than against each other. This integrative design process is similar to the Chinese
holistic view and the Feng Shui approach to the built environment (Humphreys, 1976).

Feng Shui is a body of ancient Chinese wisdom in knowledge and experience related to the
built environment that has been accumulated for more than three thousand years. It is founded
from the earliest and greatest philosophy document of Chinese, Yi Jing (The Book of Changes)
that developed ca. 800 B.C. The primitive knowledge of Feng Shui was based on the
observation from three sources: astronomical phenomena, natural phenomena and human
behaviour (Feuchtwang, 1974).

The principles and practices of Feng Shui aimed at creating a harmonised built environment
for people to live in, and it represents a traditional Chinese architectural theory for selecting
favourable sites as well as a theory for designing cities and buildings (Lee, 1986). There are
two main schools of thought and practice in Feng Shui: the Compass School and the Form
School (Mak and So, 2009). The Form School approach has been well recognized and widely
accepted by Feng Shui researchers as comprising the scientific bases in the analysis of built
environment (He, 1990; Cheng and Kong, 1993). The Form school established a holistic
approach that allows integrated components and elements to be considered for the built
environment (Mak and Ng, 2008).

Sincet hel a te1960’ st hei mpa ctofwe st

ernc i
vilisationa ndt ec
hnologyha sg r
ownt og lobal
proportions, more western scholars became aware of the limitations of the modern scientific
paradigms that failed to explain the whole realm of natural phenomena and began to
recognize that there are similarities between modern science and eastern philosophy (Capra,
1975). Lee (1986) recognized that traditional interpretations based on the formal, spatial and
technical data of architecture cannot adequately explain the context and meaning of this Feng
Shui architecture. He suggested that interpreting Feng Shui would enable the development of
architecture theories from this Chinese architectural discipline.

Nowadays, as many researchers seek to establish a deeper understanding of these

relationships between the human and natural environments, architects begin to recognize Feng
Shui as a broad ecologically and architecturally connected paradigm. Hwangbo (1999)
believed that the practice of Feng Shui is an intuitive matter involving site selection and
spatial organization, and it has strong parallels with the western concept of geometry in
architectural design.

This paper investigates this Chinese approach for integrated building design derived from the
principles and practice of Feng Shui. Firstly, the principles and practices of Form School
approach are briefly explained and hence the four fundamental concepts are derived. Finally,
a hierarchical structure of Feng Shui knowledge is presented which would form a useful basis
for integrated design.

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2. FORM SCHOOL APPROACH

There are two main schools of thought and practice in Feng Shui: the Compass School and the
Form School. The Compass School is based on metaphysical speculations of cosmology, in
particular by analysing the directional aspects in terms of the relationship between the five
elements, eight trigrams, heavenly stems, earthly branches and constellations. Practice in the
Compass School uses primarily the Luopan (Feng Shui compass) and the composed elements
of time in space (Skinner, 1982; Chiou and Krishnamurti, 1997). The Form School is
primarily based on the verification of the physical configuration of mountains and
watercourses surrounding sites and buildings. Its theory was built upon an understanding of
the landscape: the profiles of the land, the sources of rivers and the terrain. The practice of the
Form School first observes the land formation and terrain, and then determines the location
and orientation of buildings.

The development of the Form School was widely accepted by the upper class of the ancient
Chinese society and attracted scholars and intellectuals to join its practice. The principles of
the Form School were applied to design and construct castles, palaces and towns in China
since ancient times (He and Luo, 1995). Lee (1986, p.367) suggested that the principles and
practices of the Form School appr oa chr eprese nt“ ac ompe ndium ofChi nesea rchitectural
theory ”.For example, major cities in China (He and Luo, 1995), Beijing courtyard houses
(Xu, 1998), and villages in Hong Kong (Mak, 2009), are all design and built according to the
Form School approach.

Since the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), these two schools of thought were not exclusively
attached to their own methods for the practice of Feng Shui, but rather combined and
integrated ideas from both Compass and Form schools (Lee, 1986). However, the Form
School approach remained the primary consideration in Feng Shui practice (Xu, 1990; Too,
1996). Contemporarily, Form school approach has been recognized as comprising scientific
basis in the analysis of the built environment (He, 1990; Wang, 1992; Cheng and Kong, 1993;
Mak and Ng, 2005; Mak and Ng, 2008). For instance, research investigations carried out by
Xu (1990) has compared the Feng Shui concepts using the Form School approach and the
Hendler model, a well-known western model of site analysis. The results indicated that Feng
Shui is a more powerful tool in site analysis than the Hendler model.

According to Zang Shu (the Book of Burial), the first surviving important literature on Form
School was written by Guo Pu (276-324), there are five main theories in terms of Form,
namely Qi, Wind-water, Four Emblems, Form and Direction theories (He, 1990). The Form
School approach considers mountain ridges, surrounding hills, watercourses, locations and
orientations as the most important terrestrial and celestial elements for human dwellings
because these elements represent both terrestrial and celestial Qi. These elements comprised
theba sict ermsoft heFor m Sc hoola pproa cha ndwe reknowna sthe“ FiveFe ngSh ui
Ge og r
a phica lSe c
ret
s”,name l
y,dr agon,s and,wa ter, cave and direction (Lip, 1979):
(1) Dragon: means the mountain ridges to be traced, and represents the topography,
(2) Sand: means the enfolding hills and soil condition, and represents the surrounding
environment,
(3) Water: means the flow of water through or by-passing the site,
(4) Cave:or“ FengShuiSpot ”me anstheni c hepos iti
on,a ndr eprese ntsthebe stloc a
tion,
(5) Direction: means the facing direction of the site and building, and represents the
orientation.

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These five Feng Shui Geographical Secrets are developed into the ideal Feng Shui model that
recognised by most of the Feng Shui scholars (Cheng and Kong, 1993; Yi et al., 1996) as
shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Ideal Feng Shui Model

Source: Yi et al. (1996)

3. FOUR FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS OF FORM SCHOOL APPROACH

Based on the five main theories of Form School approach and the five Feng Shui
Geographical Secrets, four fundamental concepts of Form School approach to Feng Shui
knowledge for building design are derived: namely, the concept of the Feng Shui model, the
concept of parallelism, the concept of four design modules and the concept of Feng Shui
design criteria (Mak, 2004).

3.1 Concept of the Feng Shui Model

The combination of these five Feng Shui geographical elements and the four emblems (green
dragon, white tiger, black tortoise and red bird as the four cardinal directions) produced a
classic Feng Shui model. This model has been interpreted in diagrams of spatial organization
of auspicious mountains and watercourses in most of the ancient Feng Shui literature. Many
Feng Shui researchers have summarized these diagrams into a simplified diagram of a Feng
Shui model as shown in Figure 1 (Shang, 1992; Cheng and Kong, 1993; Han, 1995; Yi et al.,
1996; He, 1998). This diagram illustrated the relationships between the key elements of the
five Feng Shui geographical secrets being considered and how dragon vein, four emblems in
sand, water feature, cave and bright court, and their directions were integrated into a
simplified Feng Shui model as shown in Figure 2.

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November 02-04, 2009,Tainan,Taiwan

Figure 2: The Feng Shui model

Source: Yi et al. (1996) and Mak (2004)

3.2 Concept of Parallelism

Most Feng Shui scholars (Skinner, 1982; Lee, 1986; Xu, 1990) recognized that the theories
and practices of Feng Shui work in macrocosm and microcosm. In terms of Feng Shui, a
building is considered an architectural as well as a cosmic structure (Lee, 1986). Territory on
earth is organizationally analogous with the four quadrants in the celestial sphere. These four
quadrants are called Azure Dragon, Red Bird, White Tiger and Black Tortoise, and are
commonl yknowna sthe“ FourEmbl ems ”. Ea choft he sehe a
venl yqua drantsi si de nt
ified
with the regions of East, South, West and North respectively. This relationship is recognized
as the concept of parallelism in Feng Shui (Lee, 1986). The concept of a Feng Shui model not
only applied to landscape and site selection, but it can also be applied to the interior layout of
buildings. Therefore, whether it is dealing with physical or topographical elements, or housing
structure, or the proportional relationships of the interior of a house, the same principles and
relationships of the Feng Shui model are still applied as shown in Figure 3.

A Black Turtle E Feng Shui Spot

B Red Bird F Ming Tang
C White Tiger G Water Mouth
D Azure Dragon G' Gate

Figure 3: Correspondence of the Four Emblems in Nature and Architecture

Source: Adopted from Lee (1986)

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3.3 Concept of Four Design Modules

When describing the site conditions and the design of dwellings, most of the Feng Shui texts,
such as Yang Zhai Shi Shu (Ten Books on Dwellings of Living) categorized these aspects into
Outer Form and Inner Form. According to Lee (1986), the Outer Form can be identified as
the location of the site, conditions that surround the site, topographical conditions of the site
and the shape of the site. The Inner Form can be identified as the layout of the building,
elevations of the building, and elements of building. Feng Shui scholars, Cheng and Kong
(1993) explained the application of the Form School approach to the design of dwellings and
proposed a further classification into four design modules: surrounding environment, external
layout, internal layout and interior arrangement as shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4: Four Design Modules

Source: Mak (2004)

(1) Surrounding Environment: This aspect looks into the surrounding environment from
a geographical point of view. This includes natural elements of topography,
geographical features, mountains, watercourses, directions, views and man-made
structures of roads and adjacent buildings.
(2) External Layout: The external layout deals with the external shape and exterior space
of a building. This includes the shape of site, geometry of the building, open space,
entrances, driveways, landscaping, and plants.
(3) Internal Layout: The internal layout reflects the spatial management of a building. It
considers the locations and functions of rooms, circulation patterns, internal elements
of structure, columns and beams, staircases, ceilings, doors and window openings
(Rossbach, 1987).
(4) Interior Arrangement: The interior arrangement addresses the internal room
arrangement and furniture placement. It considers the size and proportion of rooms
and windows and doors. Furniture placement is a major part of interior arrangement.
In practice, the bed in the bedroom, the stove in the kitchen, the desk in the office etc.
have substantial effects on the use of a building (Rossbach 1987).

3.4 Concept of Feng Shui Design Criteria

Most contemporary Feng Shui scholars (Lip, 1979, 1986; Rossbach, 1984, 1987; Lee, 1986;
Xu, 1990; Han, 1995; and Choy, 1999) have set up their own criteria for Feng Shui design.
For instance, Lee (1986) outlined three-basic-criteria for architectural design; Xu (1990)
derived a four-step landscape model to deal with land formations; Han (1995) used 24-major

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criteria for selection of the best location; Lip (1979, 1986) listed a set of standard rules of
thumb for assessment of architectural design; Choy (1999) suggested a ten-point design
criteria checklist for property selection; and Rossbach (1984, 1987) provided a set of interior
design diagrams for furniture placement. Although these criteria derived from various
contemporary Feng Shui scholars were presented in different formats, they all follow the
principles and practice of the Form School approach. Based on these contemporary practices
for Feng Shui design, 24 key criteria are identified (Table 1) and grouped according to the
four design modules as shown in Figure 5.

Table 1: 24 Key Feng Shui Criteria for Building Design

Source: Mak (2004)
Surrounding External Internal Interior
Environment Layout Layout Arrangement
Topography Shape of Site Layout Door Openings
Front of Site Entrance Doors Bedroom
Rear of Site Shape of Building Windows Kitchen
Sides of Site Orientation Shape of Rooms Living Room
Street Location Trees Staircase Bathroom
Water View Pond Ceiling
Wind Direction

Figure 5: Feng Shui Criteria Grouped in Four Design Modules

Source: Mak (2004)

4. HIERARCHICAL STRUCTURE OF FENG SHUI KNOWLEDGE

Based on these four fundamental concepts of the Form School approach, an overall view of
the Form School approach was provided. It is necessary to formulate a suitable process to
integrate the four fundamental concepts of Feng Shui knowledge. It is recognised that a
concept hierarchy approach provides a powerful way to represent structural knowledge (Tam,
1993).

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Using a concept hierarchy, the relationship between each piece of data can be expressed and
presented allowing the data stored in the database with abstract term (Lee et al., 1997).
Concept hierarchy is used to organize factual domain knowledge and symbolic structural
knowledge in the form of a generalization hierarchy. It is a common approach to utilize
concept hierarchy for organizing structural knowledge and constructing the knowledge base
because of its efficient mechanism to store and generalize a large body of interrelated
concepts (Tam, 1993).

When constructing a concept hierarchy of the Feng Shui knowledge, the four fundamental
concepts are represented in a format of hierarchy and are then integrated to form a skeletal
structure of the hierarchy of the Feng Shui knowledge as shown in Figure 6.

-Topogrpahy
-Front of Site
-Rear of Site
Surround-
-Sides of Site
ing
-Street
Environ-
location
ment
-Water
-Wind
direction
Outer
Form

-Shape of
land
-Entrance
External -Shape of
Layout building
-Orientation
Concept of Parallelism

-Trees
-Pond
Feng Shui
Design
Evaluation

-Layout
-Doors
-Windows
Internal
-Shape of
Layout
rooms
-Staircase
-Ceiling

Inner
Form

-Door
opening
Interior
-Bedroom
Arrange-
-Kitchen
ment
-Living room
-Bathroom

Concept of
Concept of the Feng Shui
Concept of Four Design Modules Criteria
Feng Shui Model

Figure 6: Hierarchical Structure of Feng Shui Knowledge

Source: Mak et al. (2005)

A questionnaire survey of architects practiced in Sydney and Hong Kong was used to evaluate
the four fundamental concepts and the developed hierarchical structure of the Form School
approach. These two cities are selected to explore any divergences resulting from different
cultural, educational and geographical background. The results of the survey show that these
fundamental concepts and the hierarchical structure are corresponding to the current work
practices and knowledge of both Eastern (Hong Kong) and Western (Sydney) architects (Mak,
2004). Overall, there was very strong correlation between both groups of architects in Sydney
and Hong Kong notwithstanding the fact that they have very different cultural, educational
and geographical backgrounds (Mak and Ng, 2005).

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5. CONCLUSIONS

Building design is a very complex process, and integrated design approach emphasizes the
development of a holistic design. These characteristics are similar to Chinese philosophy of
direct insight into the nature and the principles and practices of Feng Shui as applied in
ancient Chinese architecture. In particular, the Form School provided a holistic approach that
allows integrated components and elements to be considered for the built environment.

Although the principles and practices of the Form School approach provided a broad
understanding of the Feng Shui knowledge, a systematic development of the four fundamental
concepts and a hierarchical structure of Feng Shui knowledge have never been established.
This paper provides a detail understanding of the Form School approach and to create a
structured framework for building design, and may help improving the awareness and usage
of this ancient Chinese wisdom for integrated design.

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